Frank Burr, Civic Leader,
Former Mayor of Teaneck

TEANECK - Former Mayor Frank W. Burr, who was long active in civic and church affairs and was a prime mover behind the town's largest development project, died Monday. He was 86.

Mr. Burr served as mayor of Teaneck from 1970 to 1974, when he pushed the concept of a comprehensive development project on a 50-acre site near the junction of Routes 80 and 95.

Voters defeated Mr. Burr and the high-rise proposal that he backed in a bitter 1974 election, but the township eventually approved the Glenpointe complex of condominiums, offices, and a hotel on the site. In 1980, the township named the perimeter road in the development for Mr. Burr.

"Frank was straight as an arrow, " said state Sen. Matthew Feldman, D-Teaneck. ."He was fair and just and impeccably honest. He loved Teaneck very, very much. He realized that Teaneck had to grow and develop."

Former Teaneck Manager Werner Schmid said Mr. Burr was "one of the rare people who held office based on their desire to serve the community rather than a desire to wield personal power."

Mr. Burr also served a Board of Education trustee from 1955 to 1961 and was board president from 1956 to 1957. He was a member of the Advisory Board on Community Relations from 1961 to 1967 and was its chairman when Teaneck voluntarily integrated its school system.

When he served as mayor, one of Mr. Burrs goals was to improve relations between Christians and Jews, blacks and whites, and young and old people.

Mr. Burr began work at Chase Manhattan Bank in October 1929 and worked there for 42 years. He retired as a vice president.

Born in Hasbrouck Heights in 1906, Mr. Burr graduated from New York University and New York University Law School. He married Marie Barnitt of Hasbrouck Heights in 1934. They lived in Teaneck for 41 years and had four children.

In a 1975 article in The Record on the longevity of their marriage, Mrs. Burr said: "One thing Frank always felt was that you should be the same in every situation. Frank was never a chameleon, in politics or at home. He's exactly the same inside and out."

Mr. Burr was a longtime member of Teaneck United Methodist Church, where he taught Sunday school, and he preached for about 60 years for the Northern New Jersey Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

He received citations from many local organizations, including the Teaneck Lodge of B'nai B'rith, the Township Council, and the Teaneck Community Chest.